POISONING OF 250 PIGS

Press, Volume LXXIX, Issue 23985, 28 June 1943, Page 4

POISONING OF 250 PIGS

FEEDING WITH COOKED MANGELS SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATION The results of an investigation into the cause of death of 250 pigs at a farm a few miles from Christchurch are referred to in the - Dominion Laboratory section of the annual report of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research. The pig swill, which , had been consumed in quantity by the pigs, had been prepared largely from cooked mangels and contained considerable amounts of nitrites. A full examination was made of all the materials used in the preparation of the swill, and the conclusion was arrived at that the nitrites were derived during the cooking process from nitrates naturally present in mangels, probably by bacterial action. i Reference is also made to the investigation in an article in this month’s issue of the “Journal of Agriculture.” The investigators found that mangels cooked at temperatures below boiling point, or for too short a time at boiling point, were shown to be dangerous to pigs because of the amount of nitrite formed during cooling. Mangels which had been clamped for a considerable time produced dangerous feed if cooked in this way. The production of nitrite on cooling could be avoided by cooking mangels for at least two hours at or near boiling point.